Page 116 of Forging Caine

“I don’t think I can make it.” He let his head fall back onto the ground.

Antonio landed next to us. “What happened?”

“He twisted his ankle.” I grabbed Cam-ron’s stupid blue uniform and jerked him back up so he couldn’t avoid looking at me. “Listen to me. The only way this ends for any of us is if Fiori is behind bars.Youare going to be the star witness in that trial. Not us. You need to get to safety.”

Antonio’s deep voice was an excellent good cop to my bad. “I can see house lights from here. We’re almost out. Do you see them?”

He craned his neck to look past me. “I think so.”

I pulled his face back to me. “If they catch us, Antonio and I will make sure you get away. And then you’re going to call the FBI and ask to talk to Elliot Skinner. You got that?”

“Elliott Skinner, Elliot Skinner.”

“Exactly. He’s from the Detroit office and he’ll take care of everything.”

Antonio and I helped him stand, but he was unsteady on the bad ankle.

“Elliot Skinner,” he repeated quietly to himself. “Elliot Skinner.”

How did my sister ever think he was a good match for me? I ran a hand over my cheek. I needed to talk to Elliot and find out how long his team would be. If I did that in front of Cam-ron, it would panic him more. It would have to wait.

Cam-ron swung his arm over my shoulder and we made far slower progress. “I meant it, you know. About how you turned my life around?”

He’d told me that at the police station in December, after he and Parker had been taken in for the shooting at Ferraro’s.

“It was like one of those shows where they take kids into jail and scare them straight. You know?” He hobbled a few steps, then hopped, and returned to hobbling. “I always listened to my dad, but nothing was ever good enough. After the whole thing with the Chagall, I went back to school to prove I was more than what he said.”

“You’re a better man than he is.” A week ago, I would have said he was a better man than my own father, too. I was either luckier than Cam-ron because my dad had left to do good things or I was unluckier because I didn’t have him there. Although from the sounds of it, Parker probably screwed Cam-ron up even more.

“He always called me a loser.”

“That’s bullshit. You came here, risking your own life, to save his. That makes you a hero.”

He sniffled. Maybe it was the pain, maybe it was the moment. We didn’t have time to deal with either of those.

Antonio—who’d scouted ahead—took Cam-ron’s other arm. “We’re almost at the fence.”

Another thwack against a tree. They were firing aimlessly into the woods. I twisted to check behind us, but there were very few lights on. Was Jason still alive? I hadn’t heard his gunfire in a few minutes. “Antonio, give me your phone. Let me call Elliot again.”

He reached for his pocket. Then the other pocket. “Che cazzo.”

Shit. “Lost it?”

He craned his neck to search the way we’d come. It was out there somewhere. “This is the most foolish thing we’ve ever done, you know that?”

I sighed. I should have driven to Chicago and left for a vacation with Antonio as soon as he’d landed. “I thought that was getting mixed up with you?”

Antonio laughed ruefully as we continued our awkward pace with Cam-ron slung between us. “No, Bella, that was the best decision you’ve ever made.”

Cam-ron whispered, “You two are kind of extra, you know that?”

“Shut up, Cam-ron.” I glanced at Antonio, wanting to kiss the man, but this wasn’t the time. “Move faster.”

He grunted as we picked up speed. “Okay, but yeah. Wow.”

“Extra. I feel like that suits me.”

I rolled my eyes, even though no one could see it. “One of many words.”

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